February 14, 2018

...the heart motif is definitely a favourite of mine and this year, to celebrate Valentine's Day, I thought I would play around with it using yarn...

+ fabric...

After several tries at a crochet pattern for a lacy heart, I finally came up with one which I thought would work nicely once laid over fabric, allowing for a good amount of the fabric to show through as you can see here,...

...here...

...and here...

This little hook and stitch project turned out to be such a sweet one as it was all about doing one of my absolute favourite things: combining fabric with yarn...

And, making it all that much more fun: I wasn't shy about cutting into some of my yummy vintage prints!...

As an added sweetener, I stuffed the hearts with dried lavender from my garden at the lake (which definitely put a big smile on my face!), making them perfect to hang in closets among clothes and linens... I hope you're enjoying some special Valentine's Day moments today with all those closest to your ❤, and thank you so much for all the ❤ you send my way with all your lovely visits and comments!...

February 05, 2018

...I have a bunch of new crochet-trimmed pillowcases as well as cushions that I want to list in my Etsy shop in the next little while so I've started to photograph them, the first (and often most time-consuming!) step in setting up a listing... I initially set up my first pairing of pillowcase and cushion on a bed which already had the simple striped duvet cover below on it...

...and, while I thought the resulting photo as not bad, I looked around for something that could maybe spruce it up a bit more and spotted a folded faux fur blanket on a stool in the corner which I immediately threw on the bed,...

...and was rather pleased with the overall look which I thought went nicely with a concrete and linen lamp which sits on the night table next to the bed...

What do you think -- a winter bed, perfect for cozying up with some good books?!... I have to admit that I was initially not sold on faux fur blankets (which seem to be everywhere these days|) because of their synthetic nature; I like, as much as possible, to furnish my home with natural textiles, such as cotton, linen and wool (I have a lovely ever-growing collection of wool blankets which I really like!)... However, two of my daughters really wanted them on their bed so, yes, I caved in and then, last year, I bought another one to use as a last-minute Christmas tree skirt which quickly became a favourite living room blanket as soon as its Christmas duties were done! There is no doubt that they are very nice to snuggle in and do offer an inviting and warm touch to a room's winter decor, but I wonder how well they wash in the machine... Have any of you tried to wash them?

I'm planning to be back soon with a little Valentine's Day post which I'm hoping to put together in the middle of all my pillowcase and cushion photo-taking; in case you're wondering, I have already listed the pillowcase featured in this post here, and am also hoping to list a few cushions shortly as well... I have also included my crochet pattern for little hearts which I put together last year at around this time in my right sidebar for easy access... Thanks for visiting and I hope you pop by again soon!...